The Collector of Souls
by Empiric
Summary: Collector of Souls, follow a young mage as he forces his way into History!(First time writing for MTG & for FFict.net PLS R&R!)
1. Home Sweet Home

The coast was a welcome sight to Keliorn, washing him in the soft breeze that brought him back year after year. This was his refuge amidst the dangerous mountains he called his home during the winter months, and his spirits lifted as the tiny cart that carried him along pushed its way down the steep slope towards the beach. He stopped the cart, taking in the feel of the currents of energy that bound him to this place. It was addictive, and exhilerating to know that this one place belonged solely to him, and no one else. Keliorn scanned the horizon beyond the sand, looking for the tiny island that served as his home, squinting his eye's against the glare of the setting sun.   
  
Keliorns eye's traced the lines of power eminating from the island, visible only to him and few others who called themselves mages. The waves pulsed with the magic that only life could create, sloshing away from the now spotted island. It was a small source of life energies, but to Keliorn it was home, the place where he started and soon was bound to retire to. Life had been long for him, one battle after another with the forces of evil that constantly strove to break through into his plane of existance; but he knew how to protect himself, and he had done so for (In his opinion) far too many years. It was beyond time for him to give up the guardian mantle that bore down on him. Keliorn attempted to draw into himself the energy... the mana eminating from the island in order to hasten his journey across the beach towards the waters.  
  
The energy would not obey.  
  
Keliorns eye's squinted once again, this time more intently on the hut situated on the small island. Smoke eminated from the small chimney, filling the air with a pleasent sense of home, but this was not right. The euphoric expression on Keliorns face took on the grim prospect of battle as he lightly whipped the horses pulling the cart to move faster. The defenses around the island had never been broken before. All around, Keliorn had laid a Web of Inertia, hoping that the prospect of having one's mind wiped may discourage those foolish enough to attack. But whoever it was seemed willing to give up those spells and memories that clung onto the subconcious, or did not know the full implications of losing a part of the mental library in which every wizard stored thier spells.  
  
Suddenly the air grew still as all the surrounding energy ebbed away, and the island no longer pulsed with magic. Somebody had tapped into the mana, and was preparing a defense against Keliorn. He could see now that the Web which had been protecting the island was torn and tossed aside, no longer filled with magic. The wizard who attacked the island was well prepared, as not many people cared about disenchanting spells anymore.  
  
Keliorn reached the shoreline closest to the island just in time to see an individual in flowing blue robes step out of the hut. The intruders skin gleamed with a bronze tan, and his hair was the same shade as the plants around the island.  
  
"I am Keliorn," yelled the intruder, "Leave my lands now or I shall drown you in my fury."  
  
This gave Keliorn pause for but a single moment, before he started into his first spell, drawing from the other islands he controlled. The waters between Keliorn and the island turned pitch black, and started boiling with intense heat. A serpents head rose through the waters, teeth bared, and hissed at the intruder.  
  
"What in the world?"  
  
"You would do well to remember to ask whom you are speaking to before you threaten." Yelled the true Keliorn, watching his creature twist about in the water. "And you would do even better still not to assume my name when threatening." The serpent slid through the water, moving closer to the intruder. "Now than, will you recant and give me back my island or am I going to have to let my minion persuade you to do as such?"  
  
The intruder looked back at the hut, his steps unsure and his mouth gaping for want of something to say. His determination seemed to waver in those quick moments, but the fire quickly came back into his eyes. It looked like the intruder was going to put up a fight.  
  
"You're nothing but an old fool!" The intruder yelled, and started his own spell. A trident materialized in his hands, and he threw it into the water. The trident quickly resurfaced in the hands of a humanoid covered with scales with fins instead of legs. Keliorn watched as his serpent quickly tore through the summoned merfolk, using its teeth to divide it in half before swallowing. Deciding not to cast a spell, he waited for the intruder to make a move. The intruder once again summoned a merfolk of the same type, and once again Keliorns serpent devoured it.  
  
"Give up child, you are no match for my power."  
  
The intruder started to say something, but stopped in mid-word, and started to cast a spell of a different sort. A ray of light appeared in his hand, and he threw it. The light hit the Serpent. At that moment the serpent began to hiss, and in a flash of light dissapeared.  
  
"A boomerang spell, very good. Now child, watch as I simply resummon the serpent."  
  
The waters began to boil again, but this time the intruder held out his hand, a single glowing sphere shaping in his palm. At the moment of the Serpents birth, he threw the sphere. The serpent went erect as the sphere hit it, and in a flash of light, dissapeared from existance.  
  
"I decided he should be excluded from battle old man, now, its my turn to play." At this, the intruder began to summon another creature. The waters between the shore and island took on a glassy look, emitting steam and the energy of dreams. "I'd like you to meet my friend, the Dreamwinder."  
  
The glassy surface of the water broke as a serpent burst through, reflecting light off of its blue sapphire scales.  
  
"It cannot harm me, I am not in the water." Responded Keliorn.  
  
At this the Serpents eyes began to glow, energy pulsing through them like the currents it swam in. One of the islands nearby, one Keliorn had never bothered to conquer, began to sink below the waves, causing the waters to spread out towards the shore. In seconds the rushing waters knocked Keliorn off his feet, causing him to lose concentration for a few moments.  
  
Keliorn got up and looked around. The water had risen onto the beach up to his waist.  
  
The Dreamwinder was practically on top of him, smelling the air joyfully with its thick tongue, waiting for him to make his move. 


	2. Battle of Wits

Oh.. since I forgot to say it before, I do NOT own Magic the Gathering or the card games (But dont tell that to my ego.)  
  
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Keliorn could see himself reflected in the eyes of the Dreamwinder, he could see himself reflected through those eyes of pue energy, stare through the fog that enveloped the winders soul.... The Dreamwinder slowly slithered around Keliorn in the waist high water, forming a circle to enclose the old man. The loop grew tighter and tighter as Keliorn looked on, trying to think of a way to stop this unexpected turn of events.  
  
And then the waters started to recede, and the Dreamwinder along with them.  
  
The intruder looked alarmingly at the now receding tide, surprised that the magics worked for only so long. Keliorn watched as the Dreamwinder struggled against the tide, and as it washed back out to the island. He breathed a sigh of relief, and readied his next spell. For a lack of a better idea, Keliorn used his magic to clear up his mind, clearing the way for inspiration. Several idea's popped into his head at once, and from among them he chose a spell that would best fit the occasion. As he finished the selected spell the air around him grew heavy, creating what seemed to be a wall of fog.  
  
"It's nothing but a Fog Bank! Dreamwinder, bring the tides back up and crush him!"  
  
Another island in the distance sunk below the sea, sending a surge of water rushing onto the beach. The intruder could not see if it knocked Keliorn down yet again, but that did not keep him from smiling at the thought of such a feeble defense. The Dreamwinder rushed up to the Fog Bank, and dissapeared into its mist. The air was still, and for several minutes the only sound to be heard was that of the waves crashing against the island. A bird in the distance let out a loud screech, breaking the silence, forcing the intruder to look towards it, and grimace as it swooped downwards, attempting to attack him. The Storm Crow missed by several inches, but the Intruder fell to the ground unceremoniously as he ducked. He stared off into the distance towards the fog, wondering what happend to his dreamwinder....  
  
****  
  
The Dreamwinders eye's searched fruitlessly through the fog, finding neither the human creature it was pursuing nor the source of the fog. It knew that soon the artificial tide it produced would go back down, and there were only so many islands it could sink with its magic before its master decided it wasn't worth it.  
  
Something caught the Dreamwinders eye, something visible only at the corner of its vision.  
  
The Fog had lances.  
  
The behind the lances were held shields.  
  
Behind the shields stood knights made entirely of mist, practically formless, but looking dangerous enough.  
  
The lances dissapeared, as did everything attached to them.  
  
The Dreamwinder heard the neigh of a horse behind it, but never got the chance to turn around....  
  
****  
  
The Intruders question was answered as a portion of the Fog seemed to detach itself from the main mass. The Dreamwinder was attached in many places to lances made entirely of the fog, held by knights made of the same material. The Dreamwinders immense body wriggled like a worm as it cortorted its serpentile body to get at the knights which had flanked it, biting at anything that came near its mouth. As the Dreamwinder slowed, the Knights of the Mist seemed to grow less distinct, and as the Dreamwinder breathed its last, falling to the earth, the Knights dissapeared, returning to the void from whence they came. The Dreamwinder gave one last flip of its giant body, and then melted into nothingness.  
  
" You are but a novice, a child. Why do you pretend to be something you are not? Namely me?" Yelled Keliorn, now visible. For some reason he had unsummoned the mist, leaving him out in the open. The Intruder readied his next spell.  
  
"I tire of this young one, I think I shall end this quickly."  
  
Keliorn pressed his hands together as if in prayer, and then opened them, chanting words never before heard by the intruder. A book appeared in Keliorns hands, and the air rippled with waves of power. As the airial ripples hit the intruder, he felt himself growing weary, and closed his eyes...  
  
The intruder found himself within what appeared to be a study of some sort, filled only with tomes. He dropped his spell, surprised to have been moved so easily off the island. His eyes darted from place to place. The area in front of him was stacked with immense tomes, filled to the brim with spells and knowledge, behind him the shelves seemed wanting. He moved towards the filled shelves.  
  
"That would be bad sportsmanship young man." Keliorn said. He was currently sitting in a chair, a smoking pipe in one hand and a book in the other. "You wouldn't want to disrupt the counting process would you?"  
  
"What did you do to me?"  
  
"I simply evened the playing field. It seems you have me beat in reflexes and spell response time, so I decided to create a more... pardon me... wizened battlefield."  
  
"By simply moving us into a library? Bah, you shall die now." The Intruder raised his hands, readying his spells, but something would not work.  
  
"As soon as the counting began spellcasting ended young one."  
  
"Stop calling me that, you old bastard. And what do you mean by counting?"  
  
"Its a spell I picked up a few ages ago. This is the collective representation of everything either of us know, the person who knows more will live, and the one who doesn't will have their... mind snapped. I like to call this situation a battle of wits."  
  
"You cheating..."  
  
"tsk tsk. I can stop the spell you know, but first I need to know something. Through this spell I can see how much you know, but not, as per say, look into the tomes of your life, eh? If you want to live, your going to have to tell me what I want to know."  
  
"And if I dont?"  
  
"Lets just say the counting hasn't finished counting the first tome of mine, while it looks like your library is about finished."  
  
The intruder grunted at this, sneering at Keliorn and wishing he had not of come.  
  
"I came to find something out that only Keliorn the walker would know."  
  
This stopped Keliorn dead in his tracks. He had not been known by that name for many ages, ever since he came back to this plane he called home. He stood from his chair, and paced about the room. He looked at the young man intently, wondering what to make of him.  
  
"And why did you not simply ask me before? Why tempt the ones who are more powerful than you will ever know?"  
  
"I wanted to make sure you were Keliorn." The Intruder looked down somewhat after saying this, realizing how foolish it sounded.  
  
"Satisfied now?"  
  
"I guess."  
  
"Good, now what was it you wanted to know?"  
  
"More like show you. There is something, an object, that resonates with power. It was given to me ages ago by my first instructor, and I was hoping you could tell me what it does."  
  
Keliorn nodded, and as he did so, the library faded from view, replaced once again with the island. The Intruder lay on his back on the ground, with Keliorn before him, and before Keliorn could offer to help him up, the intruder feinted, for a very, very long time. 


	3. Bitter Truth Offer to all

Alrighty, this is a short chapter, just so I can get some mechanics off my chest. Remember this is MY way of looking at the world, and any difference between this and the books (None of which I have read) is good and fine. I still don't own Wizards of the Coast or MTG. durnit.  
  
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The same sun that beat down upon Keliorn's hut beat down on the restless sea, warming the waters only to have the warmth pulled down to the chilly depths. Many creatures lived beneath the waves, some of them normal animals born from genetics and science. others however shared a different bond of ancestry, that of magic.  
The land itself seemed to support this power, binding creatures of magic to the waves and leaves, weaving its tendrils of energy around those that could use it. Many could not see this energy. even those that commanded it to its full potential. The lands created the energy, tied those around them to the energy, and by drawing the energy a mage could bring with it the knowledge of the lands, of the creatures wound within the magic. Whether from past, present, or future.  
Of those who could command the powers of the land, only a few truly knew the depth of the magic, a depth that went deeper than the deepest crevasse in the sea. Those who could see were called Planeswalkers, for through their knowledge they could walk between the stars themselves, warping reality and myth around them like a shroud. Keliorn was one of them, a walker of worlds, but one who had been forgotten by time. Myths no longer spread of his exploits, replaced by those of Urza and the new planes, of the planes that were barely infants compared to those of the old worlds. He hid from those other walkers the mysteries of the oldest worlds, worlds ravaged by technology, ones that had achieved ascension. He hid from the younger walkers what they must find in their own time. Such barriers were tiring, and thus, Keliorn severed his greatest powers in order to keep his barriers alive without him.  
Keliorn had been on his way home to die before the intruder had stopped him, and told him somebody needed his knowledge. The intruder was young, and his magical training incomplete, and as Keliorn looked at the intruder's body lying in the cot, he felt the cold winds of time he so recently tried to embrace. The trinket that had been brought before him was not of the planes he knew of, and must have been from those that now were in ascension.  
Such a thing should not be possible. Nothing should be able to pass through his barriers. He worried, and noted that sooner or later everything would come pouring through the barriers, as the walkers succeeded in breaking his defense. He worried about what would happen when the young walkers found the secret the old planes hid from them. He worried about the wars between the greatest powers, wars between the caretakers of worlds. He worried when they found out they would die eventually. despite that it would take eons. They would die of spirit like him, and become a feast for that which gave them all power. They would die and become merely food for the magic they had cultivated.  
But that was besides the point figured Keliorn. that had nothing to do with the here and now.  
The Intruder was now waking up. Keliorn figured some things were best left forgotten. ************************************************************************  
  
Alrighty, message from the author: I need some sort of response to know I am appreciated! Shower me with kind phrases and flames of all kinds. And to enforce this (and get at least some sort of readers input) I'm asking for deck idea submissions Rules: All pure color mages have a specific title (Red=Elementalist, White=Cleric, Blue=Mentalist, Green=Druid, Black=Necromancer) and multi-colored decks depend on the cards used. (Just make one up) So, I want mage name, title, and deck composition and you may just yet see your deck character as an antagonist or villain (And no I wont steal your deck ideas) Stereotypical Cleric/Elf/Goblin/Zombie decks just don't cut it, I want something imaginative. I don't need to hear about lands, unless they are something other than basic. So that means somewhere around 40-42 cards. I can always look up a card on the MTG website, so don't bother explaining them (Unless you have special tactics). Example:  
  
Name: The Intruder (Marcus Lethorin Pure) Physical Description: tan with green hair Title: Mentalist Deck: The Dreamport  
  
*Merfolk of Pearl Trident (4)  
*Exclude (4)  
*Boomerang (2)  
*Dreamwinder (1)  
*Theft of Dreams (2)  
*Dream Thrush (3)  
*Curfew (2)  
*Giant Octopus (2)  
*Ancient Spring (2)  
*Coral Merfolk (4)  
*Saprazzan Breaker (1)  
*Gaseous Form (3) 


End file.
